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The ad copy for Justin Bieber’s new perfume The Key states: ‘The Key is an inspiring new fragrance that invites you to unlock the endless possibilities of believing in your dreams, bringing you closer to Justin than ever before’. His previous two perfumes were called Girlfriend and Someday. I assume the not-so-subtle message to his fans is: If you buy all three you may hold the key to someday being Justin’s girlfriend.

Debussy’s “Clair De Lune (Bergamasque 3)” and “Arabesque No. 1” become ethereal cybernetic pieces from some past future ideal. Shifting and panning across the stereo spectrum, they sound full of hope, believing in the utopic notion of technology as a democratic agent of social progress and equity. Perhaps Moog would become the first machine ‘of loving grace’…

Within Korea (and outside) I think PSY may find with time that the exposure (and its attendant irony) will defuse any political/social motivations behind the song and render it the exact opposite: a total glamorisation and endorsement and validation of the very things he sought to ridicule. Everyone LOVES “Gangnam Style” = it’s totally cool to be Gangnam Style. Oppan Frankenstein…

Remember the future? The old future of SF paperbacks with blocky robotic font and sweeping imaginative artworks? It was a future that still seemed like the future. The future was going to be different. Well, now the future is here and most of it looks like a cover version of the past…

Whether it’s the hot lava landscape of “Cry Baby”, or the sweat-soaked swamps of “Primitive”, or the dark neon city of “Overpowered”, or the icy caverns of “Scarlet Ribbon”, or the urban fast-lane of “Movie Star”, or the oceanic pulses of “Checkin’ On Me”, or one of the other extrasolar songs on this album, they will all lure you at some point. And once crash-landed, you may debate whether to try and escape at all…

But how did we get to a point where an artificial, electronic life replaced the simple pleasures of existence? Those who can recall a time before the internet will know exactly what I’m talking about. All of those born with a USB port in their skull will be mumbling “huh?” and clicking away from this preamble to the next piece of celebrity gossip…

If I needed another reason to dig this album, just get a load of that cover, the ambient/sci-fi/prog undertones were superbly visualised here with Barry looking like some intergalactic prophet of love, beamed down from Venus to rescue the human race from an unfeeling future of empty detachment and soulless internet porn. Right on, Barry, right on…